Rory McIlroy tee times: When will the FedEx Cup defending champion tee off at the 2023 Tour Championship?

The defending FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy will tee off at 1:49 pm ET at the 2023 Tour Championship on Thursday at the East Lake Golf Club. He will pair up with 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm.

The Tour Championship is the final FedEx Cup playoff event, which will get underway on Thursday and will have its final fourth round on Sunday.

The best of the pro golfers on the PGA Tour will compete at one of the oldest golf courses in the world in Atlanta to earn the winner's share of $18 million in prize money. The tournament features the top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings, who will start their game with varying points based on their rankings.

The top-ranked golfer in the standings will tee off in the opening round with a scoring deficit of 10, while the second-place golfer will be starting with a score of under 8.

Rory McIlroy will resume his game with a score under 7 followed by Jon Rahm, who will start with a score of under 6.

McIlroy is excited to play at the tournament. He has been in a good position to defend this title this week. The Northern Irish golfer said in a post-tournament press conference of the 2023 BMW Championship on Sunday (August 20) that he is looking forward to winning the Tour Championship.

"Yeah, I'm playing great tee to green, the best I've played in a long time. [I am] Going to have to drive the ball probably a little straighter, but I felt like I found something on the back nine there today to go into next week. But overall I'm in a really good position going into next week, so excited for it," he said.

The 2023 Tour Championship will kick start with the inaugural round on Thursday at 11:26 a.m. ET. Jordan Spieth and Sepp Straka will take the first shot of the day followed by Emiliano Grillo and Tyrrell Hatton.

Jason Day will start his game with Sam Burns at 11:48 a.m. ET while Collin Morikawa will tee off at 11:59 am ET with Adam Schenk.

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2023 Tour Championship tee times

Here are the tee times for the 2023 Tour Championship (All time in ET):

• 11:26 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka
• 11:37 a.m.: Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton
• 11:48 a.m.: Jason Day, Sam Burns
• 11:59 a.m.: Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa
• 12:10 p.m.: Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor
• 12:21 p.m.: Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim
• 12:32 p.m.: Sungjae Im, Tony Finau
• 12:43 p.m.: Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim
• 12:54 p.m.: Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler
• 1:05 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley
• 1:16 p.m.: Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick
• 1:27 p.m.: Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman
• 1:38 p.m.: Lucas Glover, Max Homa
• 1:49 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
• 2 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland